Airlines operating between the United Kingdom and parts of the Middle East have cancelled a number of services today as disruption continues to affect the region, according to new data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
As of 15:30 UK time on 16 March, Cirium data shows that 18 of 133 scheduled flights departing the UK for countries in the region had been cancelled, representing around 13.5% of services.
The largest disruption from the UK has been seen on routes to the United Arab Emirates, where seven of 23 scheduled flights have been cancelled, equivalent to just over 30%. Flights to Israel and Qatar have also been significantly affected, with two cancellations on each route. Services to Bahrain and Kuwait were fully cancelled, with all scheduled departures from the UK not operating.
Elsewhere, services from the UK to Egypt, Oman and Turkiye were operating without reported cancellations at the time of the update.
Disruption has been more pronounced on return services to the UK. Of 134 flights scheduled from the region back to the United Kingdom, 23 had been cancelled, representing around 17% of operations. The highest proportion of cancellations has again affected flights from Bahrain and Kuwait, where all scheduled services were cancelled. Routes from Israel and the United Arab Emirates have also seen notable disruption, with 66.7% and 43.5% of flights cancelled respectively.
Globally, cancellations across the region are more extensive. Cirium reports that 810 of 4,684 scheduled flights to selected Middle Eastern destinations have been cancelled so far today, representing approximately 17.3% of services.
Among the most heavily affected destinations are Bahrain, where more than 97% of flights have been cancelled, and Kuwait, which has seen over 80% of services cancelled. Flights to Qatar, Iraq and Lebanon have also experienced significant disruption, with more than half of scheduled services cancelled. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has seen 37.9% of flights cancelled and Israel just over 49%.
By comparison, operations to Türkiye remain largely unaffected, with cancellations affecting less than 3% of scheduled flights.
Cirium notes that some data coverage from Iran and the United Arab Emirates remains limited, which may mean disruption levels appear lower than in reality. In addition, some smaller airlines may not yet have formally updated their schedules to reflect cancellations.
Airlines have indicated that disruption is likely to continue for at least the next week, with the scale and duration expected to vary by country and carrier.